Vegans, Raw and Fruitarians have Anxiety Disorders
I really mean it – a lot of vegans, fruitarians, raw foodists and other kinds of similar creatures have anxiety which they cope with by carefully watching what they eat.
This is a form of OCD combined with anorexia which both belongs to anxiety type of disorders.
I don’t know how did I end up following some people on Facebook but I really like it!
So many manipulative, stupid and crazy wall posts coming from them…
I really like how people comment under those posts and discuss about simple things the way it is very funny and sad at the same time.
Those people have anxiety and they cope with it following the vegan and raw/fruit “visions”. And I mean visions not diets because their “diets” are more like religions, visions and the ways and tools how to fulfill their lives with something!
It is not a coincidence that there is so many single people in raw, vegan and fruitarian communities…
Why?
Because those people are usually more anxious and obsessed about food…
It would be a deal breaker for them if a partner ate a steak or boiled broccoli or even a raw broccoli (in case of fruitarians).
Is it really the feeling of eating 100% fruit, raw or plant based diet so important for you?
Or maybe you just pretend to be it so important but in the end you know it is crazy?
Following those lifestyle choices makes you even more anxious because you actually strip your life of much more than a “certificate of being on 100% raw/vegan/fruit diet”.
Who cares about you being 100% RAW or vegan?
Nobody else but you!
You know the good old joke tells everything about them…
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How do you know if someone is a vegan?
Don’t worry, they’ll tell you.
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Vegans have anxiety?
A big problem with any specific restrictive diet is a high chance of making yourself a deficient in some nutrient.
Most people think usually only about the vitamins, minerals or trace minerals. However, being deficient in essential omega fatty acids and amino acids (protein) is very hard on the body as well and it is usually overlooked.
OK, do not start arguing that there is a lot of positive reports on reduction or even cure of anxiety and depression since going vegan or raw or whatever…
I am sure some people improved for whatever reason following the whatever diet.
Here, I am going to show you how many negative reports there are about the vegan, raw or fruitarian diet.
You can find more just – search for something like “vegans anxiety” or
“vegans anxiety nih” on Google.
TESTIMONIALS: Vegetarian diet is bad
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I have had cases of anxiety but never associated becoming a vegan with it. But now reading up on it there seems to be a connection. I really hope that someone who’s more of an expert can help in explaining how to deal with it. Glad we are all in this forum and can discuss this candidly.
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by Annabellam, Feb 9, 2017– https://veganforum.org/threads/is-depression-and-anxiety-a-part-of-becoming-vegan.1280/
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I’ve developed pretty severe anxiety and panic attacks since I started following a vegan dietEver since I started following a vegan diet around 6 months ago, my mental health has been a shit show. I had my first ever panic attack a few nights ago – something that I never used to struggle with, and I feel really anxious and depressed most of the time now.
I feel like I get enough protein, and I take a vegan supplement that has vitamins D and B12.
Has anyone else experienced this? How did you fix/stop it (besides starting medication)?
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by abatleaf
– https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/comments/4ci4jj/ive_developed_pretty_severe_anxiety_and_panic/
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I think to follow up with the perfectly worded top comment, I just finished up my first total vegan month and I have a lot of physical and mental health issues to keep in check. The first thing I did was get bloodwork done to make sure I was getting proper nutrition(and I am!). So I think this is where the medical professional, perhaps a dietician(NOT nutritionist), is important. If your bloodwork looks good, you’re clearly making good strides with your dietary intake.Next I would try and get in touch with a therapist who had the same core values as you do. Someone who is more keen on practicing mindfulness as that greatly reduces stress and anxiety. There you should be able to learn coping mechanismsfor reducing and eliminating this new anxiety, and hopefully finding out where it stems from in the first place.
If none of the above works then it is time to seriously consider speaking with a psychiatrist. For now you could start tonight by googling “mindfulness strategies” and “coping mechanisms for anxiety” or other variations of such.
Good luck, I know it sucks ass!
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by blahblahblahokay
– https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/comments/4ci4jj/ive_developed_pretty_severe_anxiety_and_panic/
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I never felt restricted, but after seven years of no meat, I chose to abandon my plant-based diet.
…
I reached this decision because of the many health issues that I was struggling with. Anxiety, depression, candida overgrowth, hormonal imbalance, acne, fatigue, bloating, IBS, insomnia, and chronic irritability became a part of my daily life.
…I ate bread, bread, bread…
… and more bread.
…
As the years went by, I seemed to forget that protein is a necessary part of any diet. I knew fortified nut milk, plant-based protein powders, and certain vegetables all contributed to my daily recommended amount of protein, but it’s easy to forget to include protein at each meal when meat isn’t the centerpiece.
…As the years went by, I seemed to forget that protein is a necessary part of any diet. I knew fortified nut milk, plant-based protein powders, and certain vegetables all contributed to my daily recommended amount of protein, but it’s easy to forget to include protein at each meal when meat isn’t the centerpiece.
Protein is crucial — it keeps you satiated and gives you lasting energy. It slows the release of sugars into your system so that you don’t get a spike of insulin and then a crash that leaves you irritable and craving more sugar.
What to do instead: Chia seeds are a great way to get amino acids and you can sprinkle them on anything.
A plant-based protein powder such as Vega has probiotics, fiber, and more. Just add it to a nut milk fortified with B12 and zinc, and you have a perfect nutrient-rich protein snack.
I forgot that plant-based doesn’t automatically mean healthy.I got caught up in the illusion that being a vegetarian or vegan was the cornerstone of a healthy diet. While this can be true for many people if done properly, but it’s not true for everyone.
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Science on vegetarian diet
You can find many studies researching the effects of vegetarian or vegan diets on mood and mental disorders but the results are not consistent.[1]
As I always say diet is just a small part of the complex system which makes you healthy or sick.
If for whatever reason (like chronic emotional stress) your digestion lacks then you can eat as healthy as you want and you will still suffer due to malnutrition of macronutrients – especially fats and protein – and micronutrients (minerals).
The study “Vegetarian diet and mental disorders: results from a representative community survey” concluded the following:
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Vegetarians displayed elevated prevalence rates for depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and somatoform disorders. Due to the matching procedure, the findings cannot be explained by socio-demographic characteristics of vegetarians (e.g. higher rates of females, predominant residency in urban areas, high proportion of singles). The analysis of the respective ages at adoption of a vegetarian diet and onset of a mental disorder showed that the adoption of the vegetarian diet tends to follow the onset of mental disorders.
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In Western cultures vegetarian diet is associated with an elevated risk of mental disorders. However, there was no evidence for a causal role of vegetarian diet in the etiology of mental disorders.
” [2]
And why do vegetarians tend to develop a mental disorder more frequently?
The scientists hypothetized that what I think is true – a form of anxiety is what driving the choice of being vegetarian.
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Two possible causal mechanisms seem possible. First, because the start of a vegetarian diet, on average, follows the onset of disorder, the experience of a mental disorder may increase the probability of choosing a vegetarian diet (i.e., the mental disorder causes the vegetarian diet). Individuals with a history of a mental disorder may exhibit more perceived health-oriented behavior in order to positively influence the course of their disease. Moreover, the experience of a mental disorder may sensitize individuals to the suffering of other living beings, including animals. In addition, elevated levels of health-related anxiety may lead individuals with mental disorders to choose a vegetarian diet as a form of safety or self-protective behavior, because a meat free diet is perceived as more healthy.Second, a relatively stable psychological mechanism (a third variable) may increase the probability of mental disorders and independently increase the likelihood of choosing a vegetarian diet. The possibility is appealing that psychological mechanisms like the tendency to experience and regulate negative emotions [45,46], high levels of responsibility and perfectionism [47], or contrasting social values of vegetarians [48] might be responsible the pattern of results. However, such possible psychological mechanisms cannot easily explain the temporal sequencing of disorders developing before vegetarian diet.
” [2]
What would help?
- Betaine HCL for protein digestion
- Whey Protein Concentrate as easy to digest protein source
- Pancreatin as digestive aid
- Fish oil as omega 3 source
- Magnesium chelate and Calcium citrate as source of supplemental minerals
- Zinc amino acid chelate
10 Reasons Against Raw Food Diet In Psoriasis
Eating raw food diet in psoriasis is not the best way how to escape this detrimental disease.
1. Generations adapted to cooked foods
Whether you like it or not humans evolved to the point where many of us need to eat cooked food to feel satisfied. It is not just about the fact that we need more energy to carry on our daily schedules but also our digestive tracts adapted to cooked foods over the thousands of years and now we are capable of digesting the cooked starches (rice, potatoes, various grains) or cooked protein (meat, beans, lentils or eggs); and if we tried to eat raw potatoes or meat our digestive organs would have really hard time to get some energy and nutrients out of that food.
It is widely accepted by anthropologist that the humans have been using the fire for at least 250 000 years. Really enough of time has passed for digestive tract to adapt to different foods (other than popular raw and paleo foods) that are cooked and thus much more easier to digest.
I don’t think that paleo lifestyle is the way to go either.
Those paleo proponents should really better eat the raw meat because it is even more paleo than cooked meat. I mean if paleo proponents claim that our digestive tract had not enough of time to adapt to grains or starches, then I claim that the same is maybe right about the cooked meat.
So why don’t they eat raw meat?
2. Most people loosing weight on raw foods
Some people may like the fact they start loosing weight once they start a raw food diet, but there is a lot of people who struggle to keep on their weight and losing the weight unintentionally despite eating a lot of raw food.
Many of those who are loosing weight are already thin and unintentional weight loss in thin people is never good.
Unintentionally weight loss is usually caused by calorie malnutrition or protein malnutrition.
Eating the solid raw food diet may lead to both of these malnutrition states.
Chewing and subsequently digesting the starches from raw food is much more complicated than digesting the cooked starches. The same applies to the protein sources. Partially hydrolyzed protein (it means cooked) whether it’s the meat or plant sources like beans is substantially easier to digest than raw protein. Also the cooking makes it taste much better in most cases.
Do you really want to get severely malnourished when trying to cure your psoriasis?
3. Protein deficiency
It has been already proved that protein sources differ not just by their amino acids content but also by protein assimilation in the body.
Whey protein is the best option for most of us – easy to digest, rich source of full spectrum amino acids, good price, availability and for those who care about the palatability – it tastes good!
Eating the plant protein in foods like lentils, beans or tofu will never be so effective as one serving (30 grams) of whey protein concentrate (WPC) or isolate (WPI).
I am not saying that drinking milk or whey protein concentrate is the best option for everybody but it is probably still better than suffering due to protein deficiency.
Plant protein sources in food or as supplement is much harder to assimilate than whey protein which is superior to other forms of protein.
There is much more people suffering from protein deficiency that you would think. Not just in developing countries, many of those with impaired digestion may suffer from protein deficiency. Edema, weight gain (beer belly), joint pain, fibromyalgia, back pain, etc.. are often associated with protein deficiency.
If anything, protein deficiency will contribute to psoriasis severity.
4. Blood sugar swings
Rapidly absorbed glucose from the digestive tract causes the episodes of low blood sugar which lead to adrenaline release and vicious circle of hypoglycemia induced hyperadrenalism and subsequently developed hyporesponsiveness of adrenergic system to adrenaline stimulation.
However, it is not just eating too much rapidly absorbed sugar what makes the problems.
People on raw food diet tend to under-eating in calories due to price of raw food and having not enough of time for eating. It is more complicated and time consuming to eat one broccoli than eating one hot dog.
Eating one hot dog will provide you with some 200-300 Calories which can be obtained by eating 600 – 1000 grams (1 – 2 lbs) of broccoli. Another fact is digestibility of hot dog and broccoli. Most people due to weak chewing and digestive capabilities wouldn’t get nowhere near to 300 Calories from 1 kg (2 pounds) of broccoli. The result is calorie malnutrition in raw foodists who are trying to eat raw food without the consideration of possible negative effects.
Do you know any raw foodist who would eat 7 kg (15.5 lbs) of broccoli or other green leafy vegetables per day? Because that’s the amount of green (leafy) vegetable one would need to eat per day in order to get at least 2000 Calories.
That’s why raw foodist usually eat bananas, carrot juices, beet juice, apples, pears, pineapples, plums, papaya, watermelons, grapes and so on…
Those fruits and vegetables contain mostly the simple sugars which may cause the above mentioned hypoglycemic episodes.
Don’t get me wrong! I think that insulin resistance and hypoglycemia is caused usually by vitamin and mineral deficiencies and mostly the infections. However, drinking the raw juices full of simple sugars does not help at all and may lead to glycemic imbalances especially in people who drink the juices on a daily basis.
5. Feeling of hunger despite eating a lot of food
Many people on raw food diet will be hungry despite eating a lot of raw food. The problem lies in calorie under-eating as well as eating the fruits which may be better than drinking a can of soda full of sugar but still – the simple sugars in fruit – gets rapidly absorbed and cause the blood sugar spikes.
This leads to hypoglycemia and hypoglycemia leads to hunger.
Another fact is that weak digestion is unable to digest the plant protein efficiently which will make the body ask for more food.
Hypoglycemia is common in psoriatics as well as anxiety disorders.
6. Hard to digest
Whether it is raw vegetable, raw meat, raw nuts, raw seeds or raw fruit – all of those foods are hard to digest. Those foods won’t be digested by underperforming digestive organs whether you like it or not.
Eating raw food is still far away from being healthy or even cure the disease by raw food diet alone.
If you ate a raw green leafy vegetable you would assimilate probably only those nutrients you chewed out in the mouth. Low stomach acid, low bile flow, low pancreatic enzymes and disaccharidase enzymes produced by intestinal villi won’t be capable of getting most of the nutrients from raw food.
The results are obvious – weight loss, hypoglycemia (leads to anxiety, depression,…), low energy, further worsening of the hormonal imbalances, more deficiencies,…
7. Cooked food does not cause diseases, raw food does not cure diseases
Cooked foods don’t cause disease itself! The mycotoxins, pesticides, low nutritional value (low vitamin and mineral content), and inability of our digestive tract to digest those foods do.
Undigested food will feed the bacteria and fungi in the gut so eating this way for years will ultimately lead to disease.
However, raw foods are also prone to being a source of mycotoxins and pesticides. Low nutritional value of the raw foods is common as well since our soils are depleted and the most important is to grow the plant heavier and better looking. The nutritional value of food isn’t visible to customers so the sellers are not interested in it either.
The most important chemical elements in the fertilizers are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus which are very important for the plants to grow. This results to foods with low trace elements like zinc, manganese, copper or minerals like magnesium which most people are very deficient in.
8. Raw Food is usually no meat, no dairy or no eggs
This is not about promoting the animal products as the inevitable part of the diet. The point is that these things are rich sources of micronutrients and macronutrients – the most obvious is protein.
Even a lot of animals are omnivores even though they could survive and possibly thrive on either completely plant based or meat diet.
In people it is even more tricky. You know, how many animal species could work for 8 and more hours a day and eating the raw food? Just us humans.
Our brains are a huge energy consumption machines which need the fuel. Some people may do well on raw food, but most of those who have hard physical work are not able to get the energy from green leafy vegetables, some nuts and fruit.
9. High sugar intake opposite is low energy intake
Raw foodists think that eating sugar in form of fruits is safe.
WRONG!
Do you know why?
Because the fruit we have today is not the real fruit. The fruit we eat today is much, much sweeter than it would be thousands years ago in the wild.
Even today you can find various fruit trees in the wild. The fruit growing on those trees is much smaller, less sweet, stronger (looking more healthy) even without the pesticides, contains more phytochemicals, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.
The fruit harvested in the wild is not so tasty and eating it will take much more time.
Another level of eating unhealthy fruits is making the fruit smoothies. It is craziness for those who think that eating raw is necessarily healthier than cooked food. Keep in mind that hundreds years ago there were no juicers either!
So when living on raw food diet you usually have to make a decision – eating a lot of sugar in fruits or under-eating on carbohydrates (starches).
10. Unavailability of raw foods
For people who don’t live near the equator there is one more problem practicing the raw food diet. The food doesn’t grow on the trees all year long…. At least not the trees in their gardens.
Sure, in many countries there is no problem going to a supermarket and buy anything you want.
Wait, there is a problem – price of food. Eating raw food is more expensive, even more if you want to eat that way all year long. During the winter months in North America, Canada, United Kingdom, Sweden or Australia there will be a financial problem for many of us.
The price of raw food in inland countries far away from the equator and tropical countries may go unbelievably high in winter!
Would you like one avocado for just 1.50 dollars?
References:
1) Nutr Neurosci. 2015 Oct;18(7):289-96.
Vegans report less stress and anxiety than omnivores.
Beezhold B, Radnitz C, Rinne A, DiMatteo J.
2) Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2012; 9: 67.
Vegetarian diet and mental disorders: results from a representative community survey
Johannes Michalak,corresponding author Xiao Chi Zhang, and Frank Jacobi
